1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to image processing and information manipulation. More specifically, aspects of the present invention relate to receiving and handling electronic ink information.
2. Description of Related Art
Typical computer systems, especially computer systems using graphical user interface (GUI) systems such as Microsoft WINDOWS, are optimized for accepting user input from one or more discrete input devices such as a keyboard for entering text, and a pointing device such as a mouse with one or more buttons for driving the user interface.
The ubiquitous keyboard and mouse interface provides for fast creation and modification of documents, spreadsheets, database fields, drawings, photos and the like. However, there is a significant gap in the flexibility provided by the keyboard and mouse interface as compared with the non-computer (i.e., standard) pen and paper. With the standard pen and paper, a user edits a document, writes notes in a margin, and draws pictures and other shapes and the like. In some instances, a user may prefer to use a pen to mark-up a document rather than review the document on-screen because of the ability to freely make notes outside of the confines of the keyboard and mouse interface.
When a user writes with a pen, he expects ink to flow from the pen tip. In the electronic ink realm, a similar goal exists. One issue that impedes electronic ink from flowing from a pen or stylus is how the electronic ink is handled.
Previous approaches have attempted to handle all aspects of inking at the same time. Once ink information exists, previous approaches have attempted to render the ink, look for gestures, combine the ink information with other ink information, recognize the ink, and smooth the appearance of the ink, among other processes. These processes have caused delays in displaying ink to a user, thereby making the user wait to enter more ink and, more importantly, reduce or eliminate the illusion that ink is flowing from the tip of the electronic stylus.